ProgCloseOut

Africa RISING Program Close-out Event
7 - 9 February, 2023
Alissa Hotel
Accra, Ghana

OBJECTIVES

1. Showcase Africa RISING achievements at regional and program level.
2. Present and critically assess the major research and development results of the program.
3. Explore opportunities for further scaling of project outputs and outcomes beyond Africa RISING.
4. Harness key lessons for Africa RISING and sister projects.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

1. Documentation of Africa RISING's results and their transition pathways
2. Synthesis notes capturing implementation lessons on systems research and SIAF from the perspectives of Africa RISING and other projects like CSISA and SIIL

DAY ONE, 7 February [Tuesday]

• 08:30 Registration
• 09:00 Participant introductions - Facilitators
• 09:45 Close out event objectives & agenda overview – Peter Thorne
• 09:50 Opening/welcome remarks

• Africa RISING Program Coordination Team Chair - Siboniso Moyo, ILRI DDG-R4D Livestock Genetics and Feeds & Forages
• USAID Ghana Country Mission - Amber Lily Kenny, Deputy Office Director – Economic Growth
• USAID Washington DC - Jerry Glover, Deputy Director, Center for Agriculture Led Growth
• Honourable Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture Ghana Ministry - Hon. Mohammed Tufero

• 10:30 Coffee break and group photo
• 11:00 Timeline review of the Africa RISING Program with key milestones and achievements - joint presentation by Fred Kizito, Peter Thorne, Carlo Azzarri

12:00 Market Place of project level technologies/achievements (in poster format) organized around three thematic SI entry points: (i) genetic intensification, (ii) ecological intensification, and (iii) socio-economic intensification.

• Genetic intensification

• Improved crop varieties (Faba bean with bread wheat) in Ethiopia – Zewdie Bishaw
• Improved forage varieties in Ethiopia – Melkamu Bezabih
• Drought tolerant quality protein maize – Patrick Okori
• High yielding disease resistant groundnut – Patrick Okori
• Dual purpose sorghum varieties – Folorunso Akinseye
• Resilient varieties of Tomato – Inviolate Mosha
• Improved/diseases tolerant vegetable varieties adapted to northern Ghana – Jean Baptiste Tignegre

• 13:00 - 14:20: Lunch break
• 14:30 Market Place Cont'd...

• Ecological intensification

• Landscape-scale rehabilitation in Ethiopia – Degefie Tibebe
• Site-specific fertilizer recommendations – Getachew Agegnehu
• Doubled up legumes – Regis Chikowo
• Targeting crop sequencing – Regis Chikowo
• Soil and water conservation in Tanzania – Elirehema Swai
• Cowpea living mulch in Ghana – Nurudeen Abdul Rahman
• Contour bunding in Mali – Kalifa Traore

• 15:30 Coffee break and group photo

• Socio-economic intensification

• Feed trough in Ethiopia – Kindu Mekonnen
• Small scale mechanization (2WT tractors) in Ethiopia – Rabe Yahaya
• High value fruit trees in Ethiopia – Endalkachew Woldemeskel
• Technologies for reducing post-harvest losses – Christopher Mutungi
• Vegetable gardens in Mali – Mahama Saaka
• Maize shellers in Ghana – Bekele Kotu
• Advisory services in Ghana and Mali – Fred Kizito
• Efficient feed utilization through feed troughs in West Africa – Sadat Salifu

• 16:30 End of day 1

• 18:30 Welcome Cocktail

DAY TWO, 8 February [Wednesday]

• 08:30 Overview of Day 2 agenda
• 08:40 Recap of previous day (Menti excercise)
• 09:00 Panel interview on implementing the SIAF - Regis Chikowo, Patrick Okori, Jim Hammond, Nurudeen Abdul Rahman & Peter Thorne
• 10:30 Coffee break
• 11:00 Data management discussion - Benedict Boyubie, Daniel Mgalla, Birhan Abdulkadir (coordinated by Carlo Azzarri)
• 11:30 Returns on Investment - Bekele Kotu, Jim Hammond, and Julius Manda (coordinated by Carlo Azzarri)
• 12:00 Program-wide synthesis study results - Carlo Azzarri
• 13:00 Lunch
• 14:30 Country table discussions to reflect on AR Program-wide synthesis results
• 15:00 Fishbowl: Partnerships in Scaling – Lessons from selected scaling partners - Million Gebreyes (ILRI), Haroon Sseguya (IITA), Patrick Kiao (Mwanga), Betty Maeda (frmr. USAID Tanzania), Nana Ntiamoah (Degas), Aminata Coulibaly (Mali Mark)
• 15:30 Coffee break
• 16:45 Wrap up day 2

DAY THREE, 9 February [Thursday]

• 08:30 Overview of day 3 agenda
• 08:40 Response to some of the concerns about the program-wide synthesis study results - Carlo Azzarri
• 09:00 Experiences and lessons in harnessing diversity and research partnerships in projects like the Africa RISING partnerships? – Mateete Bekunda
• 09:45 Building upon Africa RISING successes - F.Kizito
• 10:15 Coffee break
• 10:30 What to expect in the upcoming end of program report - Jonathan Odhong
• 11:00 Panel discussion: How to conduct systems research and showcase value – experiences from Africa RISING, CSISA, and One CGIAR Mixed Farming Systems Initiative. Panel: Peter Thorne (AR), Santiago Lopez (Mixed Farming Systems Initiative),Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon, Jerry Glover (USAID) - facilitated by Fred Kizito
• 12:30 Remarks by USAID - Jerry Glover
• 13:00 Lunch
• 14:30 Fun debrief exercise with all participants
• 15:30 Reflections by the Regional Project Managers - Fred Kizito & Peter Thorne/Kindu Mekonnen
• 15:00 Closing remarks

• High level leadership from the lead centers

• Siboniso Moyo, ILRI
• Robert Asiedu, IITA

• 16:00 Wrap up of event